Rasputin's penis

When Grigori Rasputin was murdered in 1916, some claim he was also castrated. [http://www.anotheramerica.org/missing_parts_2.htm Another America article on Rasputin] ] Since then, a number of people boasting to be in possession of his severed penis and testicles have come forth, although none of them have been able to come up with solid evidence. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ]

History of the alleged remains

1900s

Conservatives feared Rasputin’s significant and increasing influence on the tsar’s wife, and so, on December 29, 1916, he was murdered. [http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=220347 History Channel Encyclopedia entry for Rasputin] ] Some accounts say that his killers also castrated him [http://www.anotheramerica.org/missing_parts_2.htm Another America article on Rasputin] ] , although the official autopsy report claimed that his genitalia were left intact. [http://phenomena.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Alternate+History&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=&obj_id=1561 Phenomena: Alternate History article: "Unraveling the truth about Rasputin"] ]

According to some, a maid discovered the severed organ at Rasputin’s murder site, keeping it until it was somehow acquired in the 1920s by a group of female Russian expatriates living in Paris. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ] The women worshiped the organ as a fertility charm, storing it inside a wooden casket. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ] Upon learning of the women, Rasputin's daughter, Marie, demanded that the item be returned to her. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ] She maintained custody of the object until her death in 1977. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ]

A man named Michael Augustine purchased the penis, along with a number of Marie Rasputin's other personal items, at the Santa Cruz Flea Market following Marie Rasputin's death. Augustine consigned the artifact to Bonhams auction house, but officials quickly realized that the item was not a penis, and was in fact a sea cucumber. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ] It is unclear if the sea creature was the same item worshiped by the aforementioned Russian women in the 1920s. Augustine accepted the conclusion of the expert from Bonham's. The auction house later auctioned the manuscripts, letters, photographs and the strange looking 'penis cucumber' from Marie Rasputin's estate.

2000s

In 2004, Igor Knyazkin, the chief of the prostate research center of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, announced that he was opening a Russian museum of erotica in St. Petersburg, Russia. Among the exhibits, Knyazkin claims, is the 30cm (11.8 inch) long "preserved penis" of Grigory Rasputin [http://web.archive.org/web/20070517032931/http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/04/28/rasputin.shtml MosNews.com article: "Russian Museum to Exhibit Rasputin’s Penis"] ] , along with several of Rasputin's letters. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/1162/ Museum of Hoaxes article: "Rasputin's Penis: Hoax or not?"] ] He stated that he purchased the items from a French collector of antiquities and artifacts for €6,600 (US $8,000). Knyazkin had said that merely viewing the supposed penis will cure males of impotency. [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=qw1087042684705A141&set_id= IOL.com article on Rasputin] ] It is not known if the genitalia is indeed that of Rasputin.

References

External links

* [http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/rasputins_penis.html The history of Rasputin's "wandering" penis]
* [http://www.st-petersburg-life.com/st-petersburg/rasputins-penis Rasputin's Penis: A Cock and Bull Story by St. Petersburg Life]